research

Middle-aged women who are worried, moody, jealous and stressed have double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life as do those with calmer personalities, according to a new Swedish study published in the journal Neurology. >> Food That Could Boost Brain Power Swedish researchers followed 800 women — average age, 46 — for nearly 40 years and gave them personality tests to judge whether they were neurotic, stressed, introverted or extroverted. The researchers also studied hospital records and the results …

Want to buy happiness? Then spend your money on an experience, like concert tickets or a trip to the U.S. Open, instead of buying new clothes or a big-screen TV. New research from Cornell University finds that using your money to do something makes you happier than purchasing material goods. In fact, just thinking about making vacation plans or going to the symphony raises your level of happiness more than anticipating a purchase like furniture or a computer. What if …

As with so many other perplexing questions about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, researchers are unsure why there seems to be a link between low vitamin D levels and a higher risk of developing these brain diseases. Now one of the largest studies yet finds that link is even more worrisome: Too little of the vitamin may, in fact, double the risk of developing the devastating conditions. The new research, which followed nearly 1,700 adults over the age of 65 for …

I have to admit I am one of those people who never uses all my vacation time each year. I feel like work will pile up when I’m gone, and I’ll be more frazzled on my return than before I left. I’m not alone in leaving my vacation time on the table, either. The average worker in the U.S. gets 13 days of paid vacation a year, but only 57 percent of Americans use it all. But this past June, I …

Our latest Getting to Know the 50+ fact sheet profiles 50+ Americans’ shopping habits in a couple areas. I decided to see how well our average American shopper matched up with my own habits. Car shopping Sixty percent of adults 50+ have two or more cars. This may come as a surprise to some, but not if you are in the car business. The 50+ are this industry’s “bread and butter,” as 63 percent of new cars in 2012 were …

Art experts have found a depiction of a man hidden behind the surface of Pablo Picasso’s 1901 masterpiece “The Blue Room,” the Associated Press reports. The five-year study – by scientists and curators from the Phillips Collection, National Gallery of Art, Cornell University and Delaware’s Winterthur Museum – uncovered an expressionless bearded man dressed in a jacket resting his head on his hand. But who is it? And why did Picasso paint over him? No one yet knows. >> Sign up …